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Cerium is a widely available and inexpensive rare-earth metal. Ames Laboratory scientists have used it to create a high-performance magnet that's similar in performance to traditional dysprosium-containing magnets and could make wind turbines less expensive to manufacture.

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Scientists expected to see slow, random movement when they dropped lead atoms on a lead-on-silicon surface. But they saw instead? Fast, organized atoms. The unusual “explosive” movement may represent a new way to grow perfect, tiny metal nanostructures for nanostransistors and nanomagnets.

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The Critical Materials Institute, a U.S. Department of Energy Innovation Hub led by the Ames Laboratory, has created a new chemical process that makes use of the widely available rare-earth metal cerium to improve the manufacture of nylon.

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Scientists at the Critical Materials Institute have developed a two-step recovery process that makes recycling rare-earth metals easier and more cost-effective.